Women feeling unsafe walking home

PUBLIC lighting blackspots are leaving many women feeling unsafe to walk home at night.

That's according to Tuam Councillor Karey McHugh Farag who raised her concerns during a discussion about LED bulbs being installed in streetlamps around the county at last week’s meeting of Galway County Council.

There are 13,116 public lighting lanterns in Co Galway and 12,553 now have LED bulbs. This represents almost 96 per cent of the public lighting system. The remaining lights will be replaced within the next three years, as the council looks to lower their energy costs and carbon footprint.

However, Cllr Farag and several other councillors are concerned about the new lights’ wattage, having noticed a growing number of lighting blackspots on the roads.

“My issues with many of these streetlights is that in many areas they are working off sensors, meaning they only turn on after you pass them. That defeats the purpose of having lighting,” warned Cllr McHugh Farag.

“We have had many discussions in this chamber about making women feel safer, but when visibility is poor, they don’t feel comfortable walking home on their own. We need to make sure there are no blackspots, as public lighting cannot be effective if there are too many of them.”

Senior Roads Engineer Tom Prendergast provided clarity to councillors over the brightness emitted from the LED bulbs. They are required to be at least 18 watts if located within housing estates, 36 to 78 watts on local roads and between 59 and 137 watts for national roads.

“The LED bulbs have much less spillage of light and are more energy efficient. We will rectify any blackspots as we discover them, and many have already been addressed. If there are places where a lack of light is causing public safety concerns, please make us aware of them,” noted Mr Prendergast.